Evil Can Be Beautiful
by Criminalmindschick221
Summary: JJ receives a threatening letter from an anonymous source and shaken up, decides to take it to work, but when Garcia looks into it, she finds out that it is linked to a serial killer who writes letters to his victims before he kills them with the same sign off: Evil Can Be Beautiful. JJ's family is put into protection, but she isn't sure that will be enough.
1. Chapter 1

**"Beginnings are sudden, but also insidious. They creep up on you sideways, they keep to the shadows, they lurk unrecognized. Then, later, they spring." **

Margaret Atwood

* * *

He drove silently through the night; the only sounds, the faint humming of his engine and the music that he had quietly playing on the radio. He tapped the steering wheel along with the song that he recognized to be Poison's "Every Rose Has It's Thorn". He smiled, thinking that it was the perfect song to set the mood as he cruised through a small, pleasant neighborhood in the dark. Everything good also, in turn, had something bad to balance it…and that was what people needed to learn and what he wanted to teach them.

House after house he peered at the numbers, trying to find the one that he was supposed to be stopping at…until finally he saw it.

Number 2234.

It was a two-story off-white house with dark blue shudders and a dark blue door. There was an American Flag hanging on a thin, silver pole that was sticking off of their porch. And in the yard, there was a small pink bike lying in the uncut grass that had been carelessly left out after the kids had been called in for dinner.

He turned his headlights off as he approached and then parked his car in the driveway of the house across the street, which he knew that no one lived in. Luckily he had done his research beforehand, anyone wanting to get away with what they were doing, would.

Slowly, casually, he exited his car and made his way over to their house. Crouching down in the bushes of their front yard and lifting his hood over his head, he peered through the bottom of one of their large windows, unseen.

"Hey John, can you take the macaroni out of the oven really quick? I have to go get Kyle and Lila ready for dinner." A woman said as she rushed through the kitchen, setting down plates and silverware on the dining table.

When her husband, John, heard her and he heaved himself off of the couch with a dramatic groan. He picked up the TV remote and switched off the football game that he had been watching, "USC lost to LSU, 14 to 6. Can you believe it?" He muttered, sourly.

The woman paused, "USC…Southern Cal or South Carolina?"

"South Carolina."

She looked up with a surprised look on her face, "Really? I was so sure that they had that game! In my opinion, Connor Shaw is a much better-rounded quarterback then Rob Bolden." She exclaimed before letting out an exasperated sigh.

John walked up behind his wife and wrapped his arms around her. He rested his head on her shoulder, "I love it when you talk football to me." He whispered in her ear.

"Oven, John." She whispered back, patting his hands and then pulling herself out of her arms to walk towards the stairs to go get their two kids.

John chuckled and leisurely made his way towards the oven, "Anything for you, honey!" He called playfully up the stairs after her. After doing that, he pulled the macaroni and cheese out of the oven and placed it on top of the stove. There, he left it to cool.

A few minutes later, Caroline walked down the stairs, being followed by two small children: Kyle and Lila. They looked like their parents, both of them. They were both blonde and each had similar physical features to both of their parents. Kyle had his dad's nose and his mom's eyes, while Lila had her dad's eyes and her mom's eyebrows. They were both good combinations.

"Dad! Did you watch the game?" The 6 year old Kyle asked his father, sitting down at the dining table next to him.

John smiled, proud to have a son that wanted to discuss football. "Yea, I did."

Kyle grinned, "Did you see that touchdown that LSU had, where the quarterback ran it all the way from the 30 to the end zone?! It was awesome, I want to do that." He stared up towards the ceiling, as if imagining himself doing it.

"Well, quarterbacks are important, but in my opinion they aren't as important as wide receivers." He elbowed his son because on his recreation team, Kyle was a wide receiver. "Maybe this season you'll be able to beat your record of touchdowns from last year."

Kyle's eyes lit up, "Really? You think so?"

"Of course, buddy. You can do it, but you have to practice really hard and lay off the junk food." John patted his boy's stomach, "If you do that and keep your grades up, you'll be in the NFL in no time." He beamed.

Kyle's eyes sparkled, "The NFL?"

John nodded, enthusiastically. "If there was any NFL team that you could pick to be on, which would it be? Just remember there are no wrong answers." He stared at his son expectantly.

"Except for the Lions, Packers, Ravens, and the Panthers." Caroline interjected, rubbing her son's back and giving her husband a playful glare. "Don't pressure him."

Kyle chuckled, "No I'll pick..umm…" He paused and thought about it for a few more seconds before smiling as an answer came to his mind, "The New England Patriots. I'll be the next Tom Brady!"

"That's my boy!" John lifted his son out of the chair and threw him over his shoulder, running around the living room, chanting, "Patriots! Patriots! Patriots!" With his son chanting along.

"Mommy…?" The 4 year old Lila asked with big eyes, "What's going on?"

Caroline rolled her eyes and sat down in front of her daughter, "If there's anything to remember in life, Lila, it's that during football season, men are insane." She patted her lap with a big smile.

"Yes mommy." The young girl giggled and turned towards the table.

And then Caroline rounded up the boys and they all sat down for a family meal. They talked about football, school and Caroline and John even discussed their work a little bit before getting interrupted by their kids again. They seemed like a happy family.

Too happy, he thought.

As he watched them finish and start to do the dishes, he knew that it had to be then. He pulled an envelope out of his pocket and walked over to the porch. He was careful to walk lightly up the stairs so that his boots wouldn't make a noise on the wood. He pushed the envelope into the crack between the double front doors so that it stuck. Turning around, he rang the doorbell over his shoulder and quickly, quietly made his way off the porch and safely back into his spot in the bushes.

He watched as John went to answer the door, but Caroline touched his chest, "I got it." She told him, her voice wispy and maybe even a little bit seductive.

Even better, the man in the bushes thought smugly. Her reaction would be much more interesting to watch.

Caroline gave her husband a quick wink and then walked to the front door. As she pulled it open, the envelope fell to the ground in front of her.

When she bent down to pick it up, she peered through the darkness to see if the person who had dropped it off was nearby. She had no idea how close he really was.

She peeled it open slowly while shutting and locking the front door behind her. Slowly, she started making her way back towards the kitchen where she could hear her husband whistling and washing the dishes.

"Who was it?" John asked over his shoulder while scrubbing on a particularly dirty pan.

Caroline shook her head with a small shrug, "Just a letter. Someone left it and then rang the doorbell." She pulled the letter out and started scanning over it. The moment she finished it, tears started streaming down her cheeks. Her whole body was shaking and she glanced over her shoulder at the windows of her house, but the man watching was crouched too low to be seen.

John heard her crying and turned around, confused. He was glad their kids had already gone upstairs to play.

The man in the bushes waited, smiling. He wanted her to say it, out loud, but unlucky for him, all she did was try to pretend like she didn't know. She gave her husband a smile and through gritted teeth she said, "Go check the kids. Quickly." She ordered.

John stared at her questioningly, "Why? They just went upstairs…?"

Caroline glanced at the window again, "Shhh." She gave him a quick, hot glare. "Go. Check. The Kids. Please, John, can you just go check on them….for me?"

John gave her another weird look before walking past her, up the stairs and into their kids' room. And there they were, playing with each other and yelling "hi" to their dad when he walked in. He smiled, trying to figure out why his wife was acting the way that she was. He wondered if she was too stressed.

"Hey guys, are you having fun?" He grinned down at them.

"Yep! Kyle is actually letting me play leggos with him!" Lila exclaimed happily like it was a huge accomplishment for her.

John gave his son a proud nod before grinning down approvingly at his daughter, "Alright well stay in here, okay? Mommy's cleaning the house so you guys have to stay in here until we say you can come out, got it?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Got it!" They said in unison.

John gave them both a quick hug, "You two are so smart!" He grinned, "We'll be cleaning. Stay in here." He closed the door and walked back down the stairs where his wife was re-reading the letter, her eyes wide.

"What's wrong, Caroline?"

Caroline snapped her head towards him, "How are the kids?"

"Kyle is letting Lila play leggos with him. I told them we were cleaning and to stay in their room, so what's going on? You can tell me." He wrapped an arm around her as she sobbed.

"Someone's watching us, John. They said we were chosen that we needed to understand…we're going to be taught a lesson." Caroline paraphrased from the letter, which she then handed to him.

While rubbing her back with one hand, John read the letter with the other.

_Dear Jensen Family, _

_Caroline, John, first I want to start off by telling you that Kyle and Lila have got to be the cutest kids I've ever seen and for the record, Kyle is a pretty good wide-receiver too, for an 8 year old, that is. Moving on, this letter is not only a warning, but a promise. Unfortunately for you, your family has been chosen…by me, to gain a new perspective. All I want is for you to see the world as I do: filled with evil and darkness, but the only way for that to happen is from experience…first-hand experience. I think you know what that means. I am sincerely sorry, but you should know…you aren't the first ones so don't feel too bad. I have been watching you for weeks now, just waiting for the perfect time to drop off this letter. In fact, I will be watching you when you open it. Also, you might want to make sure that you locked your back door. _

John looked up from the letter at Caroline, "Did you check the door?"

"It was locked."

"He's playing with us…" He muttered angrily, wishing that somehow he could get his hands on this guy and try and give _him _a new perspective.

_Anyway, there is one more thing I need to cover: there is no escaping me or your fate. Wherever you go and whoever you tell about this, I will know and there is nothing you or anyone else can do to stop it. Just embrace it…embrace what you have that others don't, embrace the fact that you now know just how much evil is in the world. Embrace your new perspective, because if you do, this will be much easier for the both of us. I wish you all well and I hope that you get your lives in order before we meet face to face, for the second time at least. We've met before, I've even met your kids as well, but none of you would remember because…believe it or not, I'm normal. I am a normal person and even until we meet again, I will still be normal because evil doesn't show on a face or by a person's clothing. Evil is something that comes from within and it's within everyone, even you. But, contrary to your beliefs and what you think you know about evil, you'll never quite understand…until I show you and the moment that you finally gain understanding, this paradox will finally make sense:_

_Evil Can Be Beautiful._

_"Good and Evil are very hard to explain or understand. I'm sure that evil exists, but it is hard to isolate. Good and evil are intertwined and impossible to separate. They are not completely opposites and in fact are often one and the same." - Keith Haring_

Two weeks, two filed police reports, three insane stalker letters and countless sleepless nights later…the Jensen family of Raleigh, North Carolina was found slaughtered in their home with one chilling letter left on their kitchen table.

_Hello, _

_I'm sorry to whoever had to see this, but it had to be done. This family didn't understand. They didn't understand the difference between good and evil, they only understood the good. So that's where I came in, I gave them a new perspective, an evil perspective. Many of you may think that I'm a monster and that I will be going to Hell, etc, but I think the more pressing issue of my existence is that…you don't know about it. You could walk down the street and say hello to me without ever knowing what I'm capable of. Half of you probably already have. And do you know what that says? That says that there's more people out there like me. More monsters and people that are going to Hell, more than you can count. And they live among you…as I do. Most of them sustain their inner evils, but others…like me, choose to embrace it. We choose to use the darkness inside of us as a tool to help people learn what their friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members could be capable of someday. I bet my parents never thought that I would turn out this way, but what are you gonna do? Whatever happens, happens. Don't try to hide your past because, like god, the Devil is omnipotent. He tells all and sees all. I think you all need to get some perspective and if I had enough time, money and energy to show you…I would. So I'll just leave you with this, with the one thing that I'm certain of in my life and someday, you all will be certain of too:_

_Evil Can Be Beautiful._

_"The Devil is real. And he's not a little red man with horns and a tail. He can be beautiful. Because he's a fallen angel, and he used to be God's favorite." – Shelby Young_

* * *

**"Time takes it all whether you want it to or not, time takes it all. Time bares it away, and in the end there is only darkness. Sometimes we find others in that darkness, and sometimes we lose them there again." **

Stephen King


	2. Chapter 2

"**A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes."**

Mahatma Gandhi

* * *

He was watching TV, but found himself uninterested. Show after show was the same thing: a set of terrible actors trying to simulate a "real life" activity, but had instead created a miserable excuse for the real life thing. He was especially frustrated with the crime shows. They made it seem like the bad guy gets caught every single time and the good guy always wins, but he knew that wasn't true and the sooner that TV networks figured out that the public deserved to know that, the better.

Utterly bored and even a little bit irritated, he opened his door and scanned his sidewalk for his newspaper only to find that the folded grey papers were lying in the middle of his yard, out of the plastic bag, scattered a few feet apart and damp from the dew. He shuffled over to it in his slippers, feeling the wet dew seeping on to his feet. He bent down and picked it up each page while bitterly muttering something about a lazy paper boy.

As he walked back into his house, he scanned the headlines of the newspaper. The first couple were about the Middle East and their government, while a couple of others were various new health concerns. He flipped through it, but didn't really take in any of the information. It was the same thing that had been in the news last week, but from a different perspective with a different opinion. He flipped to the next page and read about sports. USC had beaten UNC. He smiled a little bit, remembering the family that had been fans of USC. Too bad they hadn't been able to see their favorite team actually have a victory. But at least they had gotten a much better reward: final understanding. He faintly remembered the looks in each of their eyes before he did it.

The fear.

The ignorance.

The pleading.

The pain.

The sadness.

The acceptance.

The understanding.

They understood what evil was. They understood because evil itself was standing directly in front of them. And he was proud to say that was him, representing evil. It was quite an honor for a person, _especially _for him.

He slowly scanned more of the headlines on the next page, but none were interesting. He noticed that the Gerry family had been reported missing by a neighbor that lived on their street. A smile reached his lips, they'd be found in a few days. That family had been the first time he had kidnapped an entire family and made them understand in a location of his choice. He found that he liked that way better, it had more privacy and gave him more time to do his work with care and detail. Plus they were almost amusingly easy to control, just put a gun to a child's head and the parents would do whatever he said. It was almost too easy. And when he finished with them he started writing his latest letter.

Oh how he enjoyed writing those letters. It was almost like his way of writing a PSA to the world and it made him feel important, it made him feel heard for once in his life. He'd been sending them to newspapers too and eventually, they would put it in the paper. Once they saw that he wasn't fake or a joke, once they saw he was serious their fear would kick in and they would do whatever he said, just like those parents and just like the rest of the country would someday…or at least he wanted them to. Doing this, _being this_ advocate for evil…it felt like he finally had a calling in his life. It finally gave his life meaning and that was all he really wanted.

He flipped to the fourth page: all of the local stories. This was where he was going to find his new victims. There was an article about a family whose house had burned down, but he knew that they were already suffering and understood the darkness that he was trying to teach. There was also a family searching for their missing son, but he needed a _complete _family. There were other family-related articles after that one too, but none of them were right. Some got close, but they were either already suffering, they were too far away or they weren't complete so he was forced to cross them off.

Because they had to be _perfect._

It was starting to frustrate him. It seemed like none of these families would be perfect enough for his purpose.

That was until he came across another article. This one interested him. It was about a family that had been through a huge tragedy where the father had been shot and the mother had been forced to save their child from a criminal who had held the boy hostage at their house. Luckily, they had all made it out safe. And this article was a follow-up of a year later for the mother and father. They were happily married in Virginia and had just celebrated the 7th birthday of their son.

Perfect.

They would be his new victims and this time, he knew that it was going to be a challenge.

But, as much of a challenge that it would be, it was one that he was willing to accept.

* * *

JJ blinked slowly in disbelief. It had all happened so quickly, too quickly.

That would be a day that she replayed over and over in her mind, trying to forget the horrors that had happened, but the daunting thing about that was that the part that she would want to look back on the most was the part that she remembered the least.

JJ clearly recalled walking up the stairs of the house that she and the team had been going through that day. They had gotten an anonymous tip from a witness that had spotted the car of the unsub that they were looking for parked at a house in their neighborhood. The team had rushed to the location and when they arrived, the unsub's car was still parked in the garage so they had to assume that he was still in there somewhere. Quickly and efficiently, they split into pairs and then went about searching the house.

As JJ walked up the stairs one by one, she had her gun drawn in front of her with her finger resting calmly on the trigger. One of the steps creaked below her left foot so she made a mental note to step lighter. When she reached the top, she turned left towards an open doorway and Emily, who had been behind her, turned right towards a different room.

"Clear." She heard Emily say as she walked into the spare bedroom that had been to the right, "Oh JJ get in here, you gotta see this."

JJ was half-listening. She used her left hand to push the door of the master bedroom open. Quickly, she checked behind the door and in the bathroom. There was no one there and just as she was ready to yell clear to her team mates, something caught her eye, the closet door was slightly ajar. Deciding not to startle the person, if there was one, she slowly walked past the bed and tightened her grip on the gun.

"Emily, what did you find?" JJ heard Morgan call as he stomped up the stairs. She bit her lip as she saw the closet door stir.

It seemed like everything was happening all at once.

She aimed her gun at the door, but it didn't move a second time. She wondered if maybe it had just been the vibration of Morgan's footsteps moving the door, but her gut told her there was someone in there.

Distantly, she heard Morgan and Emily talking in the other room. As they were talking, she walked even closer to the ominous cracked door, but before she could pull the door open she heard footsteps making their way towards the room that JJ was in. She cursed silently. They were going to scare whoever was in the closet into doing something crazy. That was what the profile had said: suicide by cop.

The footsteps belonged to Emily. She walked already halfway through the sentence, "…we found something in the other room, you might want to take a look…." She trailed off seeing the serious expression on JJ's face. She started to pull her own gun out of it's holster too when Morgan stomped into the room, cluelessly.

"Hey what's going on in here-"

As JJ's eyes shifted towards Morgan, she saw the closet doors fly open out of her peripheral vision. Out came a tall fit guy with light blonde hair, wearing a bright white collared shirt. She would remember thinking that he was dressed strangely normal for a serial killer. In his hand, he held a small handgun. Seeing that JJ was the closest to him, he pulled the trigger at close range and then turned and shot a few more bullets at Morgan and Emily before one of them managed to take him down.

JJ would never find out which one of them actually stopped him because when the bullet hit her from that close of a distance, the force caused her to fall to the ground with her back to all of the action. She lifted a pale, shaking hand and put it over the wound that was on her lower left abdominal, just below her stomach and to the left. It was the spot just underneath the end of the bulletproof vest. When she looked down at it, she could see that the blood was already dampening her shirt.

Her hands shook even more as she felt her own warm blood underneath her hands and looked down to see the dark red liquid seeping between her fingers. She suddenly needed to throw up, either because of the pain or because of all the blood…or both.

She let out a couple of painful dry heaves before realizing that doing that made her wound hurt even more so she just closed her eyes, kept pressure on the wound and breathed through her mouth so that she wouldn't be able to smell the copper-like blood smell that would most likely make her dry heave again. A couple of inches higher and all it would have caused was a small bullet-shaped bruise on her stomach underneath her vest.

A few seconds after the unsub had been tackled, JJ faintly heard someone calling her name, but it was fading out, getting quieter and quieter.

"JJ? JJ! Can you hear me? We need a medic! Morgan call the paramedics and get Hotch up here! Oh and get me…get me some blankets, a lot of blankets…actually you know what just grab the sheets off the bed…" It had been Emily's voice, but after that, JJ couldn't make it out anymore.

The only thing she felt was warmness, but it wasn't pleasant. It was almost like she underwater because she felt like the space around her was pushing down on her.

She didn't feel anything. No warmth or cold, no happiness or sorrow. It was like the world had just stilled and left her in the dark. It was black and still…that was all she could remember.

When she did wake up in the hospital, she found out that several days had passed and she had been unconscious for all of them, or at least sedated as they would put it. Glancing around, she noticed a card on her bedside table. It was titled: Get Well Mommy and was written in second grade handwriting. It brought a smile to her face.

The doctor standing by her bed said something, but she completely missed it. It sounded like she was still underwater. She blinked a few times, hoping maybe that would help.

It didn't.

She also didn't feel any pain, only this strangely pleasant feeling. She assumed it was the pain killers that they had her on keeping her from feeling the pain that she knew was supposed to be there. They were also probably the reason for her state of confusion.

The doctor spoke again and this time, JJ strained to hear. Faintly she was able to understand what he was saying to her, "How are you feeling?" He had a smile plastered on his face, amused with how the painkillers were affecting her.

"I feel…" Her voice sounded strange to her own ears. It sounded distant, but she tried to ignore it. "I feel…weird." She blinked a few more times.

"You should." He chuckled and looked down at his chart, "We've put on you on some pain killers that will have you feeling like that for the next few hours, but eventually they will wear off."

JJ looked down at her body. Even that looked weird to her, it looked distorted. She wasn't sure how, but it definitely didn't look the same as it used to. Slowly, she lifted her hand and was half-surprised to see the hand lying on the bed lift upwards. It looked far away for some reason. She stared at her own hand intently, still confused.

The doctor watched her, but then interjected, "Oh I almost forgot. I am Dr. Phillips, I'll be your doctor for the next day or two before you're released." He smiled again.

JJ lifted her eyes to look up at him. She nodded slowly.

"Well, while you're awake, let me fill you in. You came in on Thursday with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. It caused a little bit of internal bleeding and just brushed your pelvic bone. It took one surgery to fix your injuries, but we put you in a medically induced coma for two days because your liver, which was the organ that had been torn by the bullet, needed a couple extra days to repair without disturbances. And right now we have you on some strong pain killers because it's most likely the pain from the pelvic bone is going to be severe." Dr. Phillips smiled, "Also…there's been a lot of people asking to see you. The names I have here are…William LaMontagne Jr, Aaron Hotchner, Spencer Reid, Emily Prentiss, Derek Morgan, Penelope Garcia and…David Rossi."

"Did my husband come…?" JJ asked.

Dr. Phillips glanced back down at the list, noticing that she had missed her own husband's name, "Yes I believe so… You husband is Detective William LaMontagne Jr, correct?"

JJ blinked, "Yes."

Dr. Phillips nodded slowly and scribbled something down on the clipboard he was holding. When he saw her staring he explained, "We just needed to confirm that he was who he said he was. And you have a son too?"

"Henry…" She trailed off, a smile reaching her lips at the thought of her adorable son.

Dr. Phillips scribbled that down as well, "Good well…I believe that your son, husband and a couple other very persistent people are here to see you today as well. Would you like me to send them in?"

"Mmmm…yea." JJ smiled, nodded and then watched him leave the room.

A few minutes later, the door handle moved down and the door swung open to reveal Will standing in the doorway with Henry in one arm and a bouquet of flowers in the other. He set them down on her bedside table.

Their eyes met and he smiled his adorable crooked smile. "JJ…" Was all he said.

He leaned down and pressed his lips gently against hers. They both heard a small "Eww!" coming from behind them, but they were too in love to care. When they pulled apart, Will touched his forehead to JJ's. "Don't ever scare me like that again." He whispered, kissing her once more on the cheek before completely pulling away.

"Henry," Will took their son's hand, "say hi to mommy."

Henry let go of his father's hand and walked up to his mom's bed. He rested his arms on the edge, "Hi mommy." He examined her, "Are you hurt?"

JJ closed her eyes, smiling. "I…was, but now…I'm just resting. I'm gonna be fine, buddy…" She told him.

Henry nodded, "I heard the doctor say that you had a hole in your stomach…" He glanced down at her heavily wrapped stomach, "What does that mean?"

JJ glanced at Will, "Ummm…well a bad man took a ball about this size," she showed the small size with her fingertips, "and shot it at me. It hit me in the stomach…and…I guess it left a hole…?"

His eyes widened, "Woah…cool… You're like a…superhero!"

JJ cracked a smile and heard Will laughing in the distance. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a doctor walk by her window. He glanced inside as he was walking by, but then did a double take and quickly entered.

"Who let you two in here?" The doctor asked, looking at Will and Henry.

Will glanced at the doctor, defensively. "The nurse said that her visiting hours were open…" He responded.

The doctor looked confused, but then shrugged, "Oh well…that must've been a mistake in the computer. I haven't even had the chance to check her vitals yet or even talk to her about her condition. Umm…you two could stay for that if you like…" He suggested.

Will nodded and took a seat on the chair by her bed, sitting Henry down on his lap.

As the new doctor introduced himself as Dr. Langston, started to check her IV and began to explain all the details of her condition, she protested. "Wait…" She mumbled, "Wait…" She pushed his hand away.

Dr. Langston tilted his head, "Yes? Is there a problem Mrs. Jareau? Are you feeling any pain?"

"Someone…already did this…" JJ stated, giving Dr. Langston a confused look. "He…Dr. Phillips came in…and he told me about my condition and checked some of my information…" She explained.

Dr. Langston stopped and picked up the chart clipped to her bed. He looked at it, but then shrugged and returned to her bedside, "You said his name was Dr. Phillips…?"

JJ nodded slowly.

He glanced at Will before looking back down at her, "There is no Dr. Phillips registered at this hospital."

* * *

**"It's strange how dreams get under your skin and give your heart a test for what's real and what's imaginary."**

Jason Mraz


	3. Chapter 3

**"Rest and peace should not be left until you're deceased. They are two vital life incredients everybody needs and seeks."**

Rasheed Ogunlaru

It was cold that cold winter morning. The sun shined with dominance, but frost still coated the grass, unmelted. In the Jareau-LaMontagne household, sunlight seeped into the master bedroom from a crack in the curtains. Lying spread out in the large bed was JJ, sleeping soundly until the beam of light shined over her eyes. It didn't wake her immediately, but as time passed, she started to wake up.

This was the second day out of four that she had been given off for work. They said they could have offered more, but JJ knew that the more time that she took off, the more work that she would have waiting for her when she got back so she agreed to four.

Squinting from the light shining on her face, she sat up and let out a loud yawn. Looking to her right, she noticed an empty spot where her husband had previously been laying. She tilted her head in curiosity.

The question that she had on her mind was answered a few moments later when her husband walked in and sat down on the bed next to her, "Hey there." He grinned.

"Good morning." They shared a quick kiss.

Will looked at her, "How are you? I mean, how are you feeling?" He glanced down at her stomach where he could see the bandages underneath her tank top.

JJ shrugged and touched her stomach lightly, "I'm okay. It's sore when I move, but the painkillers should take care of that." She looked up at him, "How are you feeling?"

Will chuckled and laid down next to her, rolling onto his side so he was face to face with her. "A little shaken up, but I think I'll live…" He kissed her again, "I wish your job wasn't so dangerous, hun."

JJ put her hand on his cheek, "I wish _your_ job wasn't so dangerous." She retorted quickly, slapping her hand gently on his face. Slowly, she sat up in the bed, ignoring a twinge of pain in her stomach.

"Oh please." Will shook his head, scooting over so that JJ could lean against his chest. He draped his arm over her, "My job is like a cake-walk compared to yours."

JJ laughed and hit his chest lightly, "Come on let's go get some breakfast, I bet Henry is starving. God knows you don't cook for him." She leaned towards the edge of the bed where she started to get up.

Will climbed out of the bed quickly and appeared in front of her, helping to ease her up onto her feet and supporting her with his arm as they walked down the hall. "Oh that's funny, so funny. If I didn't cook, Henry wouldn't be fed at all."

JJ rolled her eyes, "Okay I'll pretend that's true." She joked as they reached the stairs. This was going to be the hard part, using her abdominal muscles had been especially hard since the accident. The doctors said it had something to do with a tear in the muscle fibers, but all she was concerned with was the pain. Walking down the stairs used more of the muscles then she had thought, making it extremely painful.

As they were walking down, JJ tried her best to hide it, but naturally her husband could tell.

"Hey," he said, stopping on one of the stairs, "just tell me if you want to slow down, okay? I know this is hard for you and the doctors said we shouldn't push anything. Are you okay?" His eyes shifted down to her bandages for a split second.

JJ met his eyes, "I'm okay."

He could hear the exhaustion in her voice. This was only the third day that she had been home and they had only done basic physical therapy at the hospital, meaning that there was still a long way to go.

"Don't push it, JJ. I know it hurts." Will narrowed his eyes.

JJ smiled a little bit, "Okay. It does hurt, but you're helping and we only have a few stairs left so let's just do it." She said as she turned towards the stairs again and started to lower herself to the next step.

Will followed, trying not find himself surprised by her inspiring stubbornness. They went down the last few steps together, JJ finding herself relieved when they reached the bottom.

Henry, having heard them talking on the steps, ran up. "Mommy!" He exclaimed, "We have a surprise for you!" He grabbed his mom's hand quickly, but when JJ expected him to yank her into the other room, he surprised her by pulling lightly and leading her gently into the dining room. Sitting on the table was a beautiful breakfast: fruit, pancakes, eggs, sausages, bacon. She turned around only to find Will standing directly behind her.

"You did this?" JJ asked him, her eyes sparkling.

Will gave her a crooked smile, bent down and picked up Henry before replying, "We did this. Do you like it?" He asked.

JJ hugged them, nodding incessantly. "I love it. Thank you!"

"We were going to do it on the night you came home, but…but daddy said you would know…so we waited so it would be surprise!" Henry exclaimed.

JJ laughed, "No wonder you've been so quiet!"

Will grinned at her, "Come on I'm starving. Let's eat." He put Henry down and walked with JJ over towards the table.

"I love you." JJ whispered to Will as they were making their slow walk towards the table where Henry was already sitting. "I love you so much." She tilted her head up and kissed him lightly on the lips.

When they pulled away and their faces were inches apart, Will said it back. "I love you too Jayje."

And then they joined their son at the table where they started to enjoy the gorgeous meal that the two men had cooked.

They _started _to enjoy it anyway. When they had just gotten settled at the table, their conversation was interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell.

JJ instinctively moved to go answer it, but Will was already on his feet. He stood in front of her, "Sit. I got it." He kissed her cheek quickly before walking to the front door, leaving JJ with a smile on her face.

Will pulled the front door open expecting to see a person, only to find out that no one was there. He immediately thought it might have been a prank or something, but then he considered it might have been the mail man so he searched the porch for a package. Sure enough, to his left, just out of his immediate view was a envelope that he had to strain to see. He walked out onto the porch and picked it up, it was addressed to their house, but didn't have a return address.

Will brought it back inside and shut the door behind him just as he started to open the envelope.

"Who was it?" He heard JJ's voice come from the dining room, but he didn't answer. He had just started to read the letter.

_Dear Jareau-LaMontagne household, _

_ You are intriguing. When writing this I never wanted to start with that line, it implies grandeur and excellence. But it was the only word that would suffice. You are intriguing. Mother and father both have jobs where they work tirelessly to rid the world of crime and murder and then return home to their son and teach him that all monsters can be caught. That. Is. A. Lie. Your jobs are lies, corruption even. The government wants you to catch killers, but I say…let them run free. It promotes safety, caution, and understanding of the other side of the human psyche. The darker side. By teaching your son that "the good guy always wins", you are therefore not preparing him for all the horrible thing he will come to face in his life. That is why you have been chosen. You are naïve, ignorant, more so the two parents than the son. You will understand. I will make you understand. And I hope you know what I mean by "understand." Let me make this as clear as possible because you people never seem to get the message: I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you in two weeks and whatever you do, it will happen. It always does, no matter what occupation you have. I take this particular arrangement on as a challenge of sorts, it will definitely strain my skills, but I will persevere. This message is important. Not only because it is one that speaks volumes, but it is also one that you have yet to learn. You may say I'm a monster, but I like to think of myself as a teacher. Teaching things that most people will never learn. You, however, will be honored to learn the one thing that I believe will promote true understanding of people and how they think. The one true commandment that I choose to live my life by. The one lesson that while it is beautiful in principle, is terrifying in method. A great paradox:_

_Evil Can Be Beautiful._

_"And this is the forbidden truth, the unspeakable taboo - that evil is not always repellent but frequently attractive; that it has the power to make of us not simply victims, as nature and accident do, but active accomplices." - Joyce Carol Oates_

"Oh my god." Will gasped as he finished the letter. He lifted his eyes to look at JJ who was staring at him from the table. When their eyes met, she knew that something was wrong, not what it was or what the letter said, just that it was horribly, terribly wrong.

It was 9:30 at the BAU, a paperwork day for most of the workers. There were no new cases that had come to their attention so it was the perfect time for all of them to catch up on paperwork. It was quiet, serene. There was no banter going, no joking between them, just paperwork.

And then the doors burst open to reveal a soaking wet JJ trudging through the doors.

All of the team members turned around at once, but Reid was the first to stand and walk all the way over to her. He tried not to get to close because she had a traumatized look on her face, almost angry. It looked like she was getting ready to explode.

"JJ, what are you doing here? You weren't supposed to be back for another two weeks." Reid said.

JJ shook her head, "I…I…" She stuttered, "I need to talk to Garcia. Now." She pushed past the team members gathered around them and walked as quickly as her body would let her up towards Garcia's liar.

When she got there, she burst through the door. "Garcia!" She exclaimed when the door opened.

The tech analyst whipped around at the noise, "Jayje! What are you doing here? And all soaking wet? Ever heard of an umbrella?" She joked.

But JJ didn't reply. She walked straight in and pulled out a letter, setting it down on Garcia's desk. "I need your help."

Garcia's eyes flickered to the paper.

"There's someone after me…I mean, there's a…there's…a…" A tear slid down JJ's face, "Garcia. There's a killer after my family."

**"The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger-but recognize the opportunity."**

John F. Kennedy


	4. Chapter 4

**"Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as a heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors."**

Abraham Lincoln

* * *

Hotch was having dinner with Beth when he got the text. It had been a pleasant evening, well every evening with Beth was pleasant for him. They went to a nice restaurant and then went home and had some ice cream with Jack for desert. As they did the dishes together after Jack went to bed, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He didn't look at it. He knew that it was work and he wanted just a few more minutes of peace with his girlfriend before he would have to leave. As she did the dishes he wrapped his arms around her, reaching into the sink and helping her clean off plates. He heard her giggle in front of him. Once they finished a couple of minutes later, Hotch lazily pulled out his phone. There was a single text displayed on the screen.

**Penelope Garcia: 911 GET HERE ASAP.**

He didn't know what was going on or why it was so urgent, but if Garcia was texting him this late with that kind of message he knew that he needed to get there right away. He said his goodbyes to Beth, gave her a quick kiss and then they both departed his house, going separate directions.

Hotch reached the BAU in 15 minutes of driving. He burst through the doors and at first saw no one until he noticed Will and Henry sitting at one of the desks. He knew that it had to be able JJ then so he rushed past them and up to the briefing room which he also found empty. Next he ventured to JJ's office then Rossi's office. They weren't in either of those rooms. Last he went to Garcia and luckily, that was where he the team all gathered around JJ who sat motionless in a chair, face pale and dark circles under her eyes.

All eyes turned on him as he entered, "What's…going on…?" He asked with eyes on JJ.

She shook her head and looked up at one of the computer screens.

Hotch followed her eyes and noticed that there was a letter displayed on it. He walked up to the closest computer screen and scanned the letter quickly. It was addressed to JJ and her family, threatening them. He shook his head as he read it. "What…" He didn't know where to start.

Garcia cut in before he could stutter on, "I scanned the letter into the database and cross-referenced it to other police reports filed. And…I found a series of letter with the same signature 'Evil Can Be Beautiful' all written to families, threatening to kill them. Every single family threatened ended up dead even if they filed a police report."

JJ's eyes dropped to the ground and she cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Apparently he finds all of his victims by simply reading stories in the news and…they printed a story about Will and I in the newspaper about how we were doing after that scare with him getting shot and the bomb…so that's how he found us." She shook her head, her eyes swimming.

Reid, who was sitting closest to her, took her hand in his and rubbed it comfortingly.

Hotch had regained himself by then. He knew exactly what he wanted to do, "Okay…" he started, "Rossi you need to contact headquarters and make sure we are authorized to take this on as a formal case. In the meantime, Morgan and Blake, you two go back and read the letters that police reports have on record. Look for similarities between them and start to get together some sort of preliminary profile for this unsub." He looked at Reid, "Reid stay with JJ."

Hotch didn't want to straight up tell him to try and get information out of her so he just gave him a look that communicated the message.

Reid nodded and Hotch knew that he got it.

Hotch continued, "Garcia get more information on this unsub and look for a specific MO in the killings and similarities between the victims. And I will go to the most recent dumpsite which I understand is close to here…?" He looked at Garcia.

"Radford, Virginia. I'll send you the directions." She pressed a few buttons.

The whole team got up at once, heading out of the door and going their separate directions, except for Reid, JJ and Garcia, but that didn't last for long.

"Do you want to go get Will and Henry and sit in the briefing room? You look anxious." Reid said, giving JJ a small smile.

JJ smiled back, glad that he could read her so well. "Yes." She stood up.

The pair left the room, met with Will and Henry and then traveled as a group to the briefing room where they sat around the table in silence, no one really sure what to say.

Reid was the first to break the silence between them. "Would it be okay if I asked you some…case-related questions?" He asked.

Will and JJ exchanged a look and Will stood up, walked over to Henry and started to play a game with him in the far corner of the briefing room which would make them out of earshot of Reid and JJ's conversation if they kept their voices low.

JJ leaned forward towards Reid, "What do you want to know?" She asked, her voice hoarse.

"Did you receive any other anonymous letters before this one? They may have been short, maybe even blank…" Reid asked her.

JJ shook her head. "No I don't think so. I mean, I never really check for return addresses until I need to, you know? So maybe…?" She gulped and cleared her throat.

Reid nodded, "Did you notice any strange behavior before the letter like someone following you, someone taking an odd interest in your family, a person who seemed too eager to meet you…?" He suggested.

"No." She answered, "Nothing like that. Our family is usually split because either I'm at work or Will is."

Reid nodded, "But this guy knew that. He waited until you two were both home at the same time to leave the letter for you. He had to have been stalking you then to know that."

JJ ran her fingers through her hair, trying desperately to keep her composure because she knew that if she lost it, it would tip off Henry to what was going on. "Do you think this is my fault?" She asked, "Is this someone targeting us because of my job?"

Reid shook his head, "I don't think so. From the way that he says your family was chosen rather than just you I would guess that he chose you more so because of your family than your job." He said.

JJ nodded slowly, not sure if she believed him or not. She stood up slowly, unable to sit still anymore. She was getting extremely antsy so she started pacing back and forth. "Keep going." She told Reid, "I'm listening."

"In the past few months have you noticed anything weird in your house like things out of place, things missing, windows open, doors unlocked…?" Reid asked her.

JJ stopped walking, "A couple weeks ago…everyday when I got home the window of the living room was open. I kept closing it just thinking it was probably Henry's babysitter who opened it. You think that he was in my house?"

"Most likely." Reid answered, "Stalkers enjoy being close to their subjects of obsession often collecting pictures of them, taking items from them and in some cases, going into their home."

JJ shook her head, wobbling a little bit on her feet. She leaned over and touched the table to steady herself, "I feel like I'm going to throw up." She muttered, touching her stomach.

"It's okay." Reid soothed, "You're safe right now. The bright side of this is that, while he was in your house…he didn't hurt any of you or purposely try to turn attention towards his actions. That means he's patient and if you're here in the BAU, he won't come because he has enough self-control to wait. And we know that…so we have the advantage."

JJ nodded and gulped, willing herself to believe him.

Reid pushed on, "Alright so tell me about the article in the newspaper."

JJ shrugged, pacing back and forth behind his chair. "I don't know…" She said, "The newspaper came to our house and asked us if it would be okay if they interviewed us for an article. We said yes and they asked us questions about that day, about Henry and about how we were doing. I thought it might have something to do with an article written about that day as a whole, but it turned out they were writing about us. And I was pleasantly surprised." She shook her head, "I didn't think that it would make my family a…target."

Reid touched her arm as she paced past him, "Hey…" he said, "Come on. This isn't your fault, okay? I promise you that. This guy is just trying to get into your head and you can't let him do that because once you do…you'll be giving him what he wants. Just trust me when I say that there is no method to what this unsub is doing. He picks a family at random from the newspaper, it was horrible coincidence that he chose yours." He paused, "But your family will be okay. I'll make sure of it…because you are my family JJ so your family is mine too. And while you're here…you're safe." He finished, looking up at her.

JJ's eyes met his for a few moments.

And Reid saw something; her eyes were clouded, glazed. She looked almost sickly. He squinted and leaned closer to her for a better look, but just as he did he felt her arm slip out of his grasp as she started to fall backwards.

"JJ? JJ!" Reid exclaimed, jumping up and trying to catch her before she hit the ground, but his reaction was too delayed and she felt limply onto the ground. "Hey…" he said, shaking her a little bit. His first reaction was that maybe she had fainted from being overwhelmed or scared, but that wasn't like her…this had to be something different.

Will rushed over seconds later. "What happened? JJ? JJ?!" He shook his wife a little bit and then touched her cheek lightly, realizing that she wasn't going to wake up.

Reid shook his head, "I-I don't know…we were just talking one minute and next thing I know…she was falling. It came out of nowhere." He explained as he reached up to feel JJ's cheek, which was hotter than normal and he also noticed that her skin was glistening with sweat.

Will noticed that too, but he wasn't sure what it meant so he turned to the doctor. "What's wrong with her?"

Reid leaned over and put his ear on her chest to listen for her breathing. Luckily as he did that he could still here the thumping of her heart in her chest. She was still alive, but she was unconscious and wheezing painfully as she breathed. "Get the water on the table." He ordered Will.

He got up quickly, getting the water off the table and giving a comforting smile to his son who was sitting on the far edge of the couch with a scared look on his face. He brought the water back to Reid, "What's going on?" He asked.

Reid glanced at Will as he handed over the water. "I'm not completely sure, but I do know that she has a fever and she's probably had it for a while, meaning that for the past hour or so her body has been overheating causing her to sweat more, which then caused her to become dehydrated." He told Will, "She should wake up if we cool her down, but as for what is causing the fever and the wheezing I'm not completely sure."

Reid took the water, poured it on a paper towel that he pulled off of a role they had in the room. He laid it on JJ's head and waited. "We need to call an ambulance because I think she may have hit her head on the ground and…this…" he trailed off, not wanting to finish. "Nevermind."

He stood up and offered a hand to Will to help him off of the ground and he took it gratefully, but as Reid was pulling him up off the ground Will's legs were shaking. When he was halfway off the ground they gave out altogether and he crashed to the ground next to his wife, coughing painfully.

"Will." Reid said, crouching by his side. "Will, calm down. Breathe…easy, breathe in, breathe out…slowly….slowly…" He took the cup of water and poured it directly on Will's forehead to cool him down, but it didn't help…the man on the ground in front of him was having a coughing bout and if it didn't end soon he would pass out too from oxygen deprivation. "Will! Calm down!" He exclaimed. That would be the only way to help his coughing.

"I…ca…n't….bre…eathe…." Will said through wheezes, "Why….can…'t….I…br…e.e…ea…the?" He coughed a few more times.

And then Reid knew for sure what he had just been insinuating before. The first illness suddenly happening could have been a coincidence, but two of them…that was organized. And now they could both die if he didn't help them soon so as quickly as he could, he pulled out his phone and called 911 telling them that he needed an ambulance immediately. The second person he called was Hotch.

"Hello?" Hotch's voice came over the line as a monotone.

Reid was panting, "The letter!" He exclaimed, "The letter he sent them…it had something on it, possibly Anthrax. JJ and Will they're sick and the paramedics are taking them to the hospital. Tell everyone to meet us there and SOON! Because if they touched the letter they might start getting symptoms too."

Hotch was confused, the young doctor had been talking way too fast. "Wait, what?"

"JJ and Will have been poisoned." Reid told Hotch just before he suddenly felt a small tickle in his throat, covered his mouth, and started to cough, but it was a weird…dry kind of cough that hurt with every gasp. "Oh my god…"

When he finished and looked at his hand, it was covered in blood.

"Definitely Anthrax."

* * *

**"Every sickness has an alien quality, a feeling of invasion and loss of control that is evident in the language we use about it."**

Siri Hustvedt


End file.
